TV Retrospective - The Sarah Jane Adventures Series 4 Episodes 9-12 - Lost in Time/Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith

We continue our look at Series 4 of the Sarah Jane Adventures.

Lost in Time part 1

Sarah Jane and co are investigating a shop, the shopkeeper said he saw a monster, they encounter the shopkeeper, who talks to Sarah Jane about things he really shouldn’t know. He knew them and used the article to lure them here and it somehow worked. Time is under threat by an element made in the Time Vortex itself… just go with it. 3 pieces of it are lodged in 3 different points in Earth’s history, moulded into different objects. He creates a time window and sucks them through. They have until the sands in his timer run out. Maybe they should have any means of working out where the metal is, no? Ah well…

Clyde wakes up in field, Sarah Jane wakes up in a box and Rani on a carpet, where a maid stumbles upon her, apparently the Queen was expecting a guest from the east. Rani seriously thinks she’s the guest. Cue the clip.

  

It’s the Royal Palace, the Tower of London and Queen Jane is in the throne and has been for around 9 days and if you know anything about history, you know what is to come. She’s the Queen’s new lady in waiting. Clyde tries to use his phone but no signal, he meets a boy, looking through his binoculars. The boy, George, is looking at some Germans; Clyde thinks he’s in the Second World War, he is, in 1941.

A girl rescues Sarah Jane from the box, she thinks she’s a spirit. The girl’s name is Emily Morris and we get the same spiel about Sarah Jane not believing in ghosts we got last season. It’s 1889 and the house is 'haunted'. Clyde watches the Nazis get off the boat. George is going to call the home guard to deal with the Germans. Clyde’s attempts to maintain his ‘cool’ demeanour are absolutely cringe-worthy in this episode. And I don’t use that word lightly

Rani is changed into more suitable period attire, then goes to see Lady Jane. Look, I just don’t really enjoy this kind of sh*t, what made the Doctor Who or even Back to the Future (3 anyway) interesting is they had an older/more experienced character who could bypass most of this sh*t. One of Jane’s other ladies questions Rani’s credentials, saying that the request was for someone older, the Countess of Arundel was already on her way. Until something interesting happens, I’m going to skip these bits, I can’t deal with this. George and Clyde runs to St Michael's Church. Meanwhile, Sarah Jane is scanning the house, and detects unusual energy. Sarah Jane asks what Emily’s story is that makes her want to believe in ghosts. Emily’s mother died recently. The clock strikes 8 and voices are heard across the house, Sarah Jane and Emily follow it.

Word reaches Lady Jane that Mary and her army have breached London, they receive a scroll that tells that Mary has claimed the crown and tells her followers to reject any false claims. Back with Clyde, they reach the church but find the phone line is dead. They see the Nazis outside and hide and to make a nice change, they actually speak German. However, they are spotted and taken prisoner.

Sarah Jane finds the same energy, then hears the words ‘chill out’ and realises the echoes are from the future. Meanwhile, back with Clyde, I’m not touching the racism stuff but there’s a device that glows and Clyde realises could be the item he’s looking for. Hitler thinks it’s Thor’s hammer because he’s kinda stupid.

Clyde tries to get it but the Nazi’s have guns. Rani is considering changing the course of history. How is she any better than the Shansheeth? Lady Jane gets a letter. Meanwhile back with Sarah Jane, she reveals to Emily that she’s from the future. Clyde and George, who I just realised is played by Richard Whisker, who later went onto play Liam in Tracy Beaker Returns, are tied up. George has a knife to help them escape. The temperature has risen significantly in the upper bedroom. Sarah Jane thinks the room in the future is on fire. Lady Matilda is given a dagger. Clyde and George take a passage to escape. And time is running out for all of them.

I like this episode in concept and some interesting bits come out, it’s just I don’t find adjustment periods interesting, this show is better rooted in the present. The Sarah Jane and Clyde bits are tolerable, but Rani’s are uncomfortable to watch.

Rating 6.5/10

Lost in Time part 2

The Nazis chase after Clyde and George but they manage to lock them out and run away. The voices stop for Sarah Jane and Emily as the children in the fire have died. Rani catches out Lady Matilda and stops her trying to kill Lady Jane. Rani disarms her, and it turns out Matilda tried to Martyrise her rather than have her quietly executed. Which is why she tries to quietly execute her rather than have it done in public, she's kinda stupid is what I mean. I know she wouldn’t have been able to do it personally but she could maybe find a way.

Turns out though, that the dagger is the object Rani is seeking. Rani is happy to have saved her which is kind of stupid when you know what her ultimate fate is. Rani, you know she’s doomed, her execution is a month away at most. Sarah Jane realises the clock is the only working thing in the house, she adjusts the clock back to the hour it was when it started and it begins anew. The echoes of the future are getting stronger, they can now see the people in the house.

George runs into a school teacher, there are more Germans than they first thought and the village has been captured, along with the Home Guard. She happens to have a pistol to help. Back with Rani, the palace has been surrounded by Mary’s guards. Question, Rani has the dagger, why can’t she leave. Rani preaches injustice at the price of changing the course of history. This is why having someone like the Doctor is important in a story like this. Lady Jane frees Rani from her service but Rani decides to stay because of her morals and sh*t. I’ll let you know when something happens, skipping.

Time runs out our trio but he can’t close the Time Portal, unless he can close it soon, the entire planet will be sucked it. Turns out the house had a colossal <censored> as a babysitter, locking the children in their rooms and agreeing to go out with someone. I guess she’ll be feeling like garbage, and possibly charged with manslaughter after what happens next.

The teacher leads the assault on the church but it’s soon revealed that she’s a Nazi spy and the boys are captured again. The teacher was lying, the device is a radar jammer, the village has a high level of radar presence that alerts the army to any incoming German vessels. Clyde stands up to them, pretending his phone is a bomb. It is playing Pass Out, which sucks so… George uses his distraction to grab the artefact as Clyde says some stuff. They ring the bell, summoning the villagers.

Meanwhile Sarah Jane finds the artefact she’s seeking, a key, but one in the future where the fire is happening. She may have been sent to the wrong time. They walk into the room to find the children playing with matches and candles, which is very safe left in a children’s bedroom. Yeah, I see how this fire started. Emily is briefly able to connect with their time by focusing on her fear, her mother died in a similar manner.

Sarah Jane forces her to concentrate on that fear, giving them a way to save the kids and grab the key? So, after more Rani bullsh*t she leaves. One down, 2 to go. The Germans are sent packing and George wants to join up with the army, Clyde leaves. Both arrive safe in the present with time very very short. Sarah Jane grabs the key but when Emily works out what she’s doing, she takes the key back, because we needed some last-minute tension that’s resolved in 2 seconds. The Time Window closes and his bird: The Captain disappear.

This episode is much like the first but the cheap tension really does spoil the ending a little. Rani’s sections were less intolerable than last time but they were also more pointless since the item was revealed early on.

Rating 6/10

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith part 1

This title is really a b*tch in hindsight, isn’t it?

A meteor is heading to Earth and since Mr Smith can’t deflect meteors anymore, it’s up to the gang to stop it, except they find the job already done. They see a mysterious woman and go chase after her, but she gets away in her car, roll titles.

Sarah Jane doesn’t trust her because of reasons, they find her living literally just down the road. Co-incidence? No, of course not. Also, Sarah Jane leaves the hand brake off? Sarah Jane confronts her, but she’s incredibly rude to them, her name is Ruby White, she’s from New Zealand and has moved here because it’s a magnet for alien activity. Sarah Jane also seems a bit flustered with her brain miles away, her hands have become very shaky.

The next morning, Sarah Jane mentions putting Luke’s tea on. Yup, we’re going down the dementia story-line. Kill me now! Door open as well. Sarah Jane talks to Luke via Mr Smith, why were they using the laptop before? Also, it’s only been 2 hours since the last time. She can’t remember K-9’s name. I’m just…. Look, if Sarah Jane was really coming down with dementia, this wouldn’t be bad, as it is, she isn’t and this plot will get old very quickly. If you’ve already guessed what’s happening, I’m not surprised.

Before Rani could convince Sarah Jane to take a holiday, they get a red alert, some creatures called the Dark Horde are invading earth. Their scanner is tracked, Mr Smith diverts their teleport into a junkyard. Sarah Jane gives Clyde a gun but we later find out she wanted him to take the sonic lipstick for reasons that I cannot comprehend, she needed it to activate a thing that would defeat them, and the gun isn’t even charged, so it’s worthless. Fortunately, Ruby is there to rescue her, with 2 active things and a pathetic little i-pod thing which together trap them until they teleport back to the ship.

But it turns out this time Ruby is being less of an ass-hole because of manipulation that’s so obvious you can see it from the edge of Pluto. It’s really difficult to pull off a manipulation story-line like this, but the thing is the audience shouldn’t know, else it makes the leads look stupid. Like it did in the first season of the Flash. Ruby is shown the attic, and has a conversation with Ruby, during which she forgets the Doctor’s name. Worried about this, she asks Mr Smith to conduct a scan of her, it confirms what she suspected, some brain degeneration. Sarah Jane decides she doesn’t want to be in position where she has power over people’s lives and begins the process of handing over power to Ruby. Including leaving Luke behind for reasons that are completely unfathomable. She hands over power over Mr Smith to Ruby and says she’s leaving right now.

Ruby begins using her words to confuse Sarah Jane further. She passes out and we get the f*cking obvious reveal that Ruby is in fact a bad guy. She’s teleports Sarah Jane to her basement, in partnership with her stomach. She is of a species called Katesh, and she feeds off excitement. She’d been draining Sarah Jane’s life force with every encounter which doesn’t really explain brain degeneration but let’s run with it.

It’s not a great start, but hardly a terrible one either. So, let’s give part 2 a chance to be interesting.

Rating 6.5/10

Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith part 2

So, as Ruby continues to monologue about her plans, help aliens so she can feed off the adrenaline and fear. After a bs conversation Rani and Clyde walk in on Ruby, she reveals the faked message from Sarah Jane, telling them she’s gone and Ruby’s in charge now. Clyde is understandably angry and especially so after finding out that Luke doesn’t know about Sarah Jane. It’s also driven a wedge between Clyde and Rani, as Clyde considers that Sarah Jane abandoned him like his dad, this doesn’t go down well with Rani, who’s already upset enough as it is. Even Gita finds it more suspicious than Rani which worries me especially. This is also Gita’s best moment in the entire series.

Clyde tries to get Mr Smith to help, he only has the ability to give a message, Beware R, he kinda guesses that Ruby’s responsible and she clocks on just as quickly, teleporting him to the ship. The ship was her prison, built for her because her hunger for stuff was too strong, but she managed to manipulate the games console she got to pass the time to take control of the ship. It doesn’t have much air as she doesn’t need it. 

Rani can’t get through to Clyde and then Luke arrives. They quickly get into arguing but K-9, who for reasons that escape me was already on the line breaks them up, and tracks Clyde’s phone to space. This finally coins Rani onto the fact Ruby is not who she says she is. They scan a photo of the games console unit which reveals its Katesh origin, didn’t put a bio-damper on that you stupid b*tch. Katesh are soul stealers, they created heightened emotional responses in their victims, before draining their life. And they’re about as skilled in manipulation as Dr Doom was in the Fantastic 4 movies.

K-9 can reset Mr White but will need direct access via a phone nearby, even so without being closer, it will take time for him to complete the reset. Rani volunteers to do it, knowing Luke would be too suspicious. Clyde gives what he thinks is his final speech, it’s another good moment, this episode has a few of them. So Rani’s plan begins and she overplays her hand, which gets her caught out, but not before he plan is successful and Mr White is wiped. Clyde is teleported down and locks Ruby in a containment Vortex. They find out where Ruby’s stomach is but Ruby breaks out of the vortex and is in pursuit. They rescue Sarah Jane but Ruby blocks their escape. Luke arrives to help, with a plan in his hand.

The games console is what created the meteors, and they’re now being amplified across the world, and it’s time to overload the system, this person has destroyed planets, this shouldn’t work, even remotely. Sarah Jane gets her life force back. The meteors stop, and Clyde gets splurged because funny? Ruby now has no stomach, erm, how is she not dead? Sarah Jane teleports her back into the ship with her promising revenge which will never happen.

The 4 are off for Pizza or something and we get out closing narration, possibly the most optimistic of all of them.

There are real standout moments in this episode, but I honestly just don’t think Ruby is that compelling of a villain.

Rating 7.5/10